Most Wanted: MODU Snapbacks

A few months back I received a package from London, which I opened to reveal a leather and velvet, Mickey Mouse-eared snapback with my initials—KTB—spelt out in gold mirror letters. It is now the item in my wardrobe that makes me smile the most, and it’s also the piece that I get the most compliments on. I wore it to a party on Friday and a girlfriend told me the hat made me cooler than she ever imagined. Truth be told, I'm not actually cool, but she’s right about one thing—the snapback is ridiculous awesome.

Slogans on t-shirts and accessories is hardly a new or novel idea, but the aspect that sets MODU Designs apart is the ability to customize. That and they're playful sensibility. This also makes these “luxury snapbacks” a great Christmas present idea. In the past couple of years MODU’s tricked-out designs have ended up on the heads of everyone from A$AP Rocky, to Nicki Minaj, Dizzee Rascal to Danny Brown and Baauer. I spoke with East London-born graffiti artist-turned-designer Matty Bogle, about his early days tagging up walls, the artists rocking MODU, and what’s up next the emerging street style brand.

Danny Brown

Tell me about the origins of MODU—when did you start it and why?
I came up with the idea in 2000 when I was a young graffiti renegade, I use to mainly hit up the District Line from Upton Park up to Bow Road [in London], and had mates who would do central line and local rails. Initially I wanted it to be a graffiti crew, but it all changed when I met my business partner and best mate Teejay, at a youth theater group in Stratford, he was studying fine art and wanted to try out graffiti. We hit it off straight away and got into break dancing and DJing. He was the one who first stenciled our logo onto a pair of old jogging bottoms and that’s when we realized we could make money from doing art & graffiti on to clothing!

How did you time as a graffiti artist influence and feed into your designs?
When you first start to graf you teach yourself how to shape letters, proportion the size and how to blend colors and add shadows. This has been the key element to all our successful products. Accessories for us are the perfect fashion product because they enable us to add our artistic graffiti experience. They complete a person’s look and allow us to put words, shapes and symbols on them—just like walls and trains.

Do you still do graffiti? Did you ever get caught?
I’ve only been caught once, and I ain’t ashamed to say I cried like a bitch! I was 17 and on study leave during my exams, I was stupidly marking up trains at 12am and someone must of grassed me up to the BTP (British Transport Police). They tried to see if I knew any of the bigger graffers and even raided my bedroom. They didn’t find much just magazines and sketches, they knew I was young so they gave me a slap on the wrist.

Do you still do it?
I haven’t done any illegal grafs for a while because of my schedule, but I get calls from theater and music directors once in a while who want pieces for productions which I love doing.

Do you pay a lot of attention to what people are wearing around you? Does London street style influence what you make?
What I love about fashion is the unknown fact that it’s dictated by us, the people, not the fashion houses. This is embedded in our MODU philosophy: “Merging urban streetwear and high end fashion.” In London we find that culture and luxury items that make you feel good are always the key elements to successful products. We’ve seen the revolution of streetwear especially in London from the beginning, and now we try to strike the perfect balance of being pioneering and flamboyant, but with a touch a sophistication, so we can appeal to the more practical and simple consumer.

Nicki Minja and UK artists Dizzee Rascal and Leona Lewis. How did your hats end up in the hands of so many musicians recently in both the US and UK…
Even in this year alone we’ve had the most widest variety of artists, from amazing dancehall acts like, Gyptian, Chronixxx & I-Octane, international rap stars like Ace Hood & Italy’s biggest crew Club Dogo, R&B legends like Trey Songz, JLS & Sisqo and our favorite homegrown new bands like Night Works and Swiss Lips!

How do they end up on these people and what’s it like seeing your work being worn by these stars?
We work so hard making hats for influential music artists and celebrities, as we find they really love and appreciate the research and bespoke touch we provide. And over the years we’ve made hundreds, lots have never even been worn by the artists, but we just throw it out there and see what sticks. Our tactic is quite unique, Stylist are our main love, they are fantastic at giving us a chance, especially if we add spice to an artists look just like Nicky Minaj’s Neon pink “Nicky” snapback. Journalists who are interviewing stars, security guards who look after them, super fans who queue up for hours and even partners of the artists all help us. I can’t describe the feeling you get when someone emails me a picture or a snap in the paper of someone in our hat. It really makes you feel that hard work pays off. But then you think, Right whose next!

Ace Hood and London's Wiley.

Who would you like to wear your hats next? I know you like slogans on the hats—what are some of your more recent ones?
I’m determined to get hats to Kim Kardashian, Lil Wayne, Naomi Campbell, Vybz Kartel and someone royal like Prince Harry or an Arab sheikh! Slogans are so simple, but hugely lucrative to us! Recently trap music has really changed influenced the rap game and even fashion, so we’ve recently created a hat using the Transformers logo to say TRAPFORMERS! Another classic we’ve recently done is HOLLYHOOD in the Hollywood sign font!

Can you people send in custom requests like my KTB hat?
Hell yeah, that’s our USP. What we love more than anything is getting custom orders on our website. We give people the option of designing their own hat, they can choose the color of the hat, letters, and in 2014 will introduce an option to choose your very own strapback closure.

What new product are you most excited about at the moment?
In 2013 we have created some world changing and pioneering products, but finances limit us from releasing them until we grow bigger. It’s hard to decide which is my favorite, but I have to say our Glow in the dark acrylic letters definitely still gives me goosebumps. We worked with our acrylic suppliers in the UK to create the best glow in the dark acrylic on the market, it gives the same glow as fire escape signs do. Next year we plan on rolling this out to the rest of Europe and the States .

Mickey ears and MODU founder Matty Bogle.

What's your best seller?
By far it’s our Mickey Ears hat, we pride ourselves in creating an iconic hat that is practical and still wild and fun. That’s why we had to make Kim our US pinup girl with the newest latest velvet version!

Ha! And I wear it all the time. How would you describe your own personal style?
I’m so proud of my heritage here in the UK because in London the beautiful thing is we’re so heavily diverse in influences. Being British Caribbean and having dreads I’ve always had my roots in dancehall and reggae, so I’m always colorful and vivid. People say I dress like a cross between Andre 3000, Lil Wayne, and the Fresh Prince. I never argue with that as I love all 3 of their styles.

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Kim is Noisey's Style Editor, she wears her MODU snapback constantly, and she's on Twitter - @theKTB